Vegan Pastitsio

Serves 9

25 mins prep

70 mins cook

95 mins total

My Vegan Pastitsio recipe is all about bringing comfort food into a plant-based lifestyle. Based on my mom's Greek traditional recipe, I make it with a healthy approach and high-protein ingredients, and trust me, the flavor is unreal. It is just as satisfying as the classic.

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Preheat oven to 350 F/ 175 C.
Cook pasta according to package directions, but cook 2-3 minutes less so that it doesn't get mushy when baked in the pan.
Drain pasta reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.
Make a slurry using 2 tablespoons of the warm pasta water and the 1 tablespoon of tapioca, set aside.
Put the milk and rest of the pasta water into the pot where you cooked the pasta and heat it over low heat. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt. Slowly add in the starch mixture as you whisk it so it doesn’t clump. It should slowly thicken and get somewhat egg like. Turn off the heat.
Add the pasta and ¼ cup of the Parmesan and mix around so the pasta is covered in the mixture. Taste and add more salt if needed, this will depend on the Parmesan you use. Set aside.

Make the “meat sauce:

Chop the chickpeas and walnuts into smaller pieces using a food processor. Set aside.
Sauté onion with oil, or broth if oil free, over medium heat until onion is soft. About 5 minutes.
Add the chopped chickpeas and walnuts, lentils, chopped tomatoes and parsley and saute until the juice from the tomatoes is gone. About 5-7 minutes.
Add 1 ½ cups of the broth, tomato sauce, wine, salt and pepper and cook covered for about 8-10 minutes. Don’t let it burn.
Uncover, continue to stir and cook, checking the consistency and doneness of the lentils until the lentils are cooked and sauce is thickened but not dry. Add more broth into the pan as needed to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Build the Pastitsio in a square baking dish as follows:

Add half the pasta to the bottom of the baking dish.
Cover in the "meat sauce" and spread so it covers the top. Press it down so it’s nice and firm. This helps it mix into the pasta a little to secure the layers.
Sprinkle with ½ cup of the Parmesan.
Add the other half of the pasta on top. Press down so it blends into the “meat” portion and secures the layers.
Cover with the Bechamel.
Sprinkle with the last ½ cup of the Parmesan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until browning on the edges and the center feels like it has firmed up.
Let cool and set for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving for best results. Enjoy!